Kepak Junior C Championship Final
Seneschalstown 1-09 Drumbaragh 2-08
A late, late scoring burst from Drumbaragh saw them snatch victory in what was a tense Junior C Championship Final played in Bective on Saturday afternoon. Going into injury-time, the score was level but despite being under quite a bit of pressure, the Kells parish side managed to counter from their own half and edge ahead. Seneschalstown couldn’t get out and the eventual winners managed to register to insurance score with the very last kick of the game to seal victory.
The Bective pitch was in immaculate condition with the rain staying away throughout, but there was a stiff breeze blowing into the entranced corner of the ground, which both sides seemed more comfortable playing against.
Seneschalstown made a quick start and were ahead inside two minutes when Chloe Williams opened her account with one the more bizarre points you will see, the ball hitting the bar, bouncing onto the left upright and across onto the right upright before eventually landing over the bar. However, Drumbaragh would gain the upper hand for the majority of the half and by the time the 17th minute came around they had moved two in front with three points on the bounce. Ruth Commons got a badly needed score for Seneschalstown with an excellent long range free but things were about to get worse before they got better for the Yellow Furze side.
In the 26th minute, a shot from out on the right hit the post and bounced down into the Seneschalstown square. A Drumbaragh player was the fortunate recipient of the break and she slotted the ball into the net to give her side a four point lead.
Commons steadied the ship again with another free and Seneschalstown would have been hoping to get to half-time within arm’s length, but they were dealt a further blow when the North Meath side found the net for a second time. A shot appeared to be going wide but was kept alive by a Drumbaragh forward near the endline and she made space to put the ball beyond Katie Lawlor in the Seneschalstown goal. Another point followed and all of a sudden Seneschalstown faced a fairly stiff examination of their Championship credentials.
When the sides met in the group stage, Seneschalstown were up against a similar deficit and managed to claw their way back to draw the game. This time, they gave themselves the best possible opportunity with a superb start to the second half.
When Eve Wardick won possession on the 20 metre line, she spotted Chloe Williams making a dart off her shoulder. Wardick’s pass went to ground and momentarily it appeared that chance was gone but Williams was very alert and pulled on the ball first time and it nestled in the corner of the net to give Seneschalstown big momentum. Ruth Commons added a close range free immediately and now there was only two points between the sides.
Orla Garry was starting to become more prominent in proceedings and she powered her way through a number of tackles to set up Commons to kick her first point from play in the 34th minute. Despite not scoring for another ten minutes, Seneschalstown continued to lay siege to the Drumbaragh goal and were rewarded in the 45th minute when Commons continued to show her accuracy from placed balls, adding another to tie the game up.
However, that seemed to wake Drumbaragh up again going into the final quarter and two points in a four minute spell restored their lead. In keeping with the up and down nature of the game Seneschalstown found something once more to pull themselves level. Substitute Ava Jane Ryan made an immediate impact after coming off the bench with a fine point, and from the resultant kickout Lucy Lynch picked out Katie Geraghty in behind the defence and she fired over to make it to 2-06 to 1-09.
Seneschalstown kept up the pressure and had chances to go ahead late on, but Drumbaragh struck with that late counter attack and ultimately claimed the title.
Seneschalstown: Katie Lalwor, Catherine Monaghan, Aoife Jane Lenehan, Grace Finnegan, Caoimhe Clarke, Orla Garry, Aisling Taaffe, Darcy Kilfeather, Ally Finnegan, Megan Connolly, Ruth Commons (0-06, 5fs), Lucy Lynch, Chloe Williams (1-01), Eve Wardick, Kelly Smith.
Subs Used: Katie Geraghty (0-01), Ava Jane Ryan (0-01)
